Rua’s just 3-3 in his past six fights, but Gustafsson has won six straight and already been in the title discussion for much of the past year.

And while he said he’s focused solely on ex-champ Rua ahead of the Dec. 8 event at Seattle’s KeyArena, the Swede said with a victory next week, he should then get a shot at the belt. And he’ll take it.

“But when it comes to a title fight or if I will fight Jon Jones if he’s still a champ, I’ll be ready for it. I’ll take home the belt. No question about it.”

Up first for Jones, though, is his coaching gig on “The Ultimate Fighter 17″ with Chael Sonnen and a planned pay-per-view headliner on April 27.

Sonnen hasn’t competed in the light-heavyweight division in years, and he hasn’t fought since a failed middleweight title shot in July against champ Anderson Silva. But Sonnen knows how to work a mic, and his very public needling of and feuding with Jones helped allow him to cut to the front of the line after top contender Dan Henderson sustained an injury.

That fill-in spot arguably should have gone to Gustafsson, but he said he holds no ill will toward the challenger.

“It sucks a little bit that it went that way, but still, I’m happy for Chael,” he said. “He’s a good guy. I just hope he does everything he can (in that fight).”

And that “something,” he said, is taking the fight to Jones. Gustafsson said the champ’s eight-fight win streak has been aided by his opponents’ lack of aggression and their willingness to let Jones do his thing.

If you fight Jones, you have to expect to get hit, he said.

“Jon Jones is mastering his reach and his distance, and they let him work,” he said. “So I think you have to stick to your own game plan. It doesn’t matter if you take a shot, two shots, or get taken down. That happens in a fight. You still have to stick to your game plan and be conditioned for 10 rounds.”

During his three years in the UFC, where his only loss came to fellow contender and now-teammate Phil Davis, Gustafsson hasn’t been the most outspoken fighter. He’s polite, respectful and focused more on winning than developing some type of character. But if victorious over Rua, can we expect Gustafsson to go public with his desire for a title shot?

“Oh yeah, for sure,” he said. “I want to fight the champ after this fight. That’s what I want to do. My focus is on ‘Shogun’ 100 percent. But when I win the fight, I want to fight for the belt.”

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is probably the greatest female fighter on the planet, which is a tremendous feat. So why are we seemingly so obsessed with arguing about whether she could beat up men?